Birthday Today...

Well....today was my Birthday, in case you didn't see it on other blogs(Thanks you, everyone who did Birthday posts for me! That was very nice of you. ;-)) and I got some great gifts. First off, from my parents I got money towards a saddle I want. I would love to have a Wintec 500 English saddle with CAIR air panels and the adjustable gullet system in size 16.5 medium tree(I just thought I'd say all the facts about it). You can see a picture and learn more about it here, if you care....probably don't, but whatever. :-P

My cousin, Anika, also got me a very pretty stable blanket for showing...I mentioned it once through comments, but I'm planning on showing Miss Daisy-Mae next summer at our county fair, and maybe the state fair, plus other shows from a saddle club near us, in Western Pleasure, maybe English Pleasure, and Barrel Racing...that's all I'm planning on so far...maybe a halter class....but anyway, I can use this blanket on Daisy after I've given her a bath-it's light, so it's not hot, but it will keep her clean for showing in case she rolls or gets dusty.

I'm going to show Daisy in barrel racing, like I said, and I'm REALLY excited. I've only shown a miniature pony before and I loved it, but I'm not very knowledgeable about showing in Western pleasure or English pleasure...or barrel racing. I'll learn, though. Daisy did it with her old owner and was apparently really good at it, so I'm excited to see how it goes. When I ride her I can already see the potential...Man, I'm so excited. :)

The last picture is of a sign Anika made for my Birthday. I have one that says Miss Daisy and one that says Daisy...the Daisy one hangs in my locker at school, and the Miss Daisy(as you can see) is hanging above Daisy's stall door now. I really like it because the whole time I've wanted a sign for her, but I thought it'd be silly to get one because there's really no ideal place to hang it, and she's the only horse...but this one is perfect. I love it...anyway, I had a good Birthday....

Have a good rest of the week! It could be awhile until I'm posting...Maybe Thursday, or Friday.....or Saturday.....oh, whatever, bye!
:-)

Oh, btw, I just put that picture of Genevieve in because I thought it looked cute...cozy....

Random Pictures, Out of Order-A View of Today

These are just some pictures I took today....really random, and way out of order-and a lot of them. Sorry I haven't posted in so long...btw, I have no idea why this underline is here, sorry :-p.^^That picture up there(these: ^^^^ mean up) is of Daisy sleeping in the sun. This is the second time recently that we've seen her sleeping out behind her barn-I didn't have her stall open today, so she couldn't go in, so she slept outside. SO cute!

^^Genevieve on a tree we knocked down last summer. She uses it as a bridge over our stream. The picture in the top corner is of her at the base of the tree-I just combined them to save picture space. Isn't she so sweet?^^

^^Early morning on Red Gate Ranch (aka, the Little House in the Forest)...I was up at 7 this morning, which is 'painfully' early for a Saturday, because....well, I'll explain below.^^

^^Gronemeyer hiding in our woodpile-the cats take this place as the perfect place to hide from Abby, the dog.^^

^^Daisy ate her fill of trees today...^^

^^Curious little Miss Daisy....^^

^^This was taken after a ride, when she KNEW she was getting a treat. Isn't she funny? Sorry about the bright sun in the back round.^^

^^Genevieve (Genny) TOTALLY took advantage of the sun, and slept on the tarp that covers our wood. In the cropped pic. in the corner she's rolling. I think she's just so adorable...is it just me?^^

^^^SO, here's why I got up at 7 am instead of 8:30 or 9.:
The last few days we've had a fox at our house around 7 every morning, wandering. This is a problem because the cats kept on climbing through the 'holes' in the roof of the barn, sliding down the side, and playing outside when it wasn't light out yet and the door wasn't open. NOTICE: The door wasn't open so they wouldn't get out! It worried us because we already lost our dear little Grenuie whom we had end of last summer, and I already love these two so much....so today we(my Dad and I) covered the holes with chicken wire; no more getting out so early. I was up early because I had to let the cats out-I had closed them into a cage so they wouldn't get hurt until the wire was up. I took advantage of the light sun and took pictures...^^

^^Wiring from inside.^^^

^^^Just a cool picture of Daisy taken through the stall door-the door and wall is so dark, it made it look like a framed picture...^^

^^It was cold today. If you enlarge the picture you see Daisy's breath coming out of her nose... I went riding at around 9:30. It was a nice ride, but very, very cold. ^^

So, that's about it...sorry for the long wait for a post, and for the amount of photos...Tomorrow is Easter, the day Jesus rose!....man, he's a cool Man.

Anyway, enjoy the holiday! I'll try to post soon, but I can't promise anything....

If It Weren't for Patchy.....

...Who knows if I'd have Daisy?
Patchy is the little pony pictured above in the first picture. I took one riding lesson every week for 8 years at a farm just outside of our town before I got Daisy. I rode different horses a lot...Maybe, if I'm ever really bored (yeah, right) I'll upload pictures of them...there was Sasha, Dancer, Fletcher, Fred, Peggy, Sunshine, Nugget, Free, etc....and Patchy. Patchy was a Welsh Mountain pony cross, adorably cute (obviously, right?). I rode him a lot in my lessons towards the last years. He was a...Mischief maker? Handful?...I took group lessons, and the other girl I rode with didn't like him...he was a hard horse. He was really talented, but he was a little green. He wasn't very trusting, I guess. A lot of times I'd spend the whole lesson working on stopping-I'd have to walk maybe 3 steps, do a rein give, another 3 steps, rein give, etc. (a 'rein give' is where you let one rein totally loose, and the other you pull around tight to your leg. You wait until the horse submits to you, then you let go.) It was a lot of work, but I liked it. He was different because pretty much all the other horses didn't DARE misbehave, but he did. He also had his quirks with a big plastic tube lying outside the ring-he'd never go near it. Anyway, I really liked riding him, no matter how hard he was.
The first day I went to try out Daisy (Dosie Doe) she was misbehaving. She got spooked of a tarp at one point, kind of half reared, and backed into a water trough, which scared her more. I was scared when that happened (I was too proud to admit it then...). I wanted her though because she reminded me of Patchy. I had wanted to buy Patchy, but I knew I'd outgrow him, and he wasn't for sale anyway...I thought with Daisy, I'd be like having Patchy;a challenge, something to work with, not boring. So I got her. That's why, almost everyday, she totally surprises me with her intelligence and training. She's very well trained, and after riding her for awhile now, I really know her, and she almost never misbehaves. I can't say I'm disappointed! Like the other day I got her to do a cantering side pass! It was really cool because I could feel her legs kind of shuffling back and forth. I believe now that it was God who put Daisy and I together...when I look back now, I have no idea where in the world I got the guts to buy her. Thank you, Jesus! She's a great horse....couldn't have asked for anything better.
Sorry for the long post....but maybe it'll 'hold you over' until the next one!....;-)
Oh, btw, the second picture of Daisy was taken by her old owner...I think it was a pic. used in an ad on a website....

Tour of the Chicken Coop-Finally

Awesome Poem-If Jesus Came to Your House-PLEASE READ

This is an awesome poem I received in an email from 'I Love Jesus' today. It's a great poem that really makes you think. Please read it!

If Jesus Came To Your House

If Jesus came to your house
To spend a day or two.
If he came unexpectedly,
I wonder what you would do?

Oh, I know you'd give your nicest room
To such an honored guest.
And all the food you'd serve to Him
Would be the very best.

And you would keep assuring Him
You're glad to have Him there.
That serving Him in your home
Is joy beyond compare.

But, when you saw Him coming,
Would you meet him at the door,
With arms outstretched in welcome
To your heavenly visitor?

Or would you have to
Change your clothes
Before you let him in?
Or hide some magazines
And put the Bible where they'd been?

Would you turn off the radio
And hope He hadn't heard?
And wish you hadn't uttered
That last, loud, hasty word?

Would you hide your worldly music,
And put some hymn books out?
Could you let Jesus walk right in,
Or would you rush about?

And I wonder, if the Savior
Spent a day or two with you,
Would you go right on doing
The things you always do?

Would you go right on saying
The things you always say?
Would your life continue
As it does from day to day?

Would your family conversation
Keep up its usual pace?
Would you find it hard
Each meal to say grace?

Would you sing the songs
You always sing,
And read the books you read?
And let Jesus know the things
On which your mind and spirit feed?

Would you take Jesus with you
Everywhere you planned to go?
Or would you, maybe, change your plans
For just a day or so?

Would you be glad to have Him meet
Your very closest friends?
Or would you hope they'd stay away
Until His visit ends?

Would you be glad to have Him stay
Forever on, and on?
Or would you sigh with great relief
When He was gone?

It might be interesting
To know the things that you would do,
If Jesus Christ in person
Came to stay with you.

I do also have a post below, make sure you check it out!

Cantering at the Well

February 2008-Inside Out

So, here's another slideshow. I hope you don't/won't get bored of slideshows, but I like them because I can show a whole bunch of pictures. I hope you like it, because dumb slide.com decided to not let the 'save' button work, and I did the whole slide, uploading tons of pictures and adding captions, and then I couldn't save and I had to do it over. X-(

{You may have to move your mouse a few times for captions to come up and pictures to change. Otherwise(for me, anyway) it stays on one picture for awhile.}

Well, it's here now! Just so you know, the first few pictures of Daisy in the 'laneway' paddock, with the ice, is from and ice storm on February 6th, Ash Wednesday. I put Daisy in the laneway that day because the ground wasn't as ice covered as her regular paddock, and that's when I took the pictures. The other ones are just a handful (compared to all the pictures I have!) of pictures I took this month. Enjoy!